Where does Lagos rank on list of most livable cities in the world?

Damascus in Syria is the least livable city in the world, but Lagos is not far behind.

Annually, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) carries out a research on 140 cities to find out the world’s most livable and least livable cities.

The EIU, in its 2021 Global Livability Ranking categorised Lagos as the second least livable city in the world after it measured the urban quality of life in the aforesaid cities based on assessments of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

The least livable city in the world as revealed by the report is Damascus, Syria and other countries in the bottom 10 of the 140 cities assessed are Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Algiers, Algeria; Tripoli, Libya; Karachi, Pakistan; Harare, Zimbabwe; Douala, Cameroon; and Caracas, Venezuela.

According to the report, Lagos was rated 20.8 on Stability; 41.0 (Healthcare); 36.8 (Culture & Environment); 25.0 (Education) and 32.1(Infrastructure).

"A consistently low stability score, owing to ongoing civil unrest and military conflicts, is the reason behind most of these cities featuring in the bottom ten. However, conditions have deteriorated even further as a result of COVID-19—particularly for healthcare," says the EIU report.

It is no surprise that Lagos is part of the least livable cities in the world with traffic, high crime rate, high cost of housing, poor drainages, environmental pollution, and a host of infrastructural challenges.

On the contrast, Auckland, New Zealand, ranked number one among the ten most livable cities in the world.

Osaka, Japan is the second most livable city followed, in order, by Adelaide, Australia; Wellington, New Zealand; Tokyo, Japan; Perth, Australia; Zurich, Switzerland; Geneva, Switzerland; Melbourne, Australia; and Brisbane, Australia.

The EIU claimed the rating in its global livability report was given based on the assessment of expert analysts and in-city contributors.